This invention relates to floor cleaning machines adapted for wet scrubbing and vacuum drying of dirty floor surfaces, and more particularly to a new and improved automatic floor cleaning machine adapted for easy accessibility to and removal of driven train components for maintenance, repair and replacement of the same.
Known floor cleaning machines have drive trains essentially comprising a drive motor in operative connection with an axle assembly having a differential mechanism with aligned axle shafts operably connected thereto, and drive wheel assemblies mounted at opposite ends of the axle shafts. Typically, braking mechanisms are operatively associated with the drive wheel assemblies. Failure of any one of the drive train components results in the cleaning machine being taken out of service until the defective component is repaired or replaced. The time and effort required to accomplish such repair or replacement is a function of the design of the power train insofar as location of the components is concerned, and the manner in which they are attached to the chassis of the machine. Heretofore, it has been necessary either to raise the machine by means of a hoist or other method, or to tip the machine on its side to provide access to the component to be worked on. If the machines are to be tipped, removal of batteries and emptying of solution tanks and the like usually is required, which is both inconvenient and time consuming. In order to do this, it is often necessary to transport the machine from the location of its breakdown to a repair shop in another location. In addition, access to a particular portion of a particular component may be complicated by the lack of clearance between the component and the chassis and the fact that the drive train assembly as a whole is bolted directly to the chassis using brackets or other means. Even routine preventive maintenance of drive train components may require a great deal of time and effort and may therefore be ignored in favor of retaining the machine in service until a drive train component actually fails, the probability of which is increased when routine maintenance is not performed.